Highlighting industrial excellence with the 2016 WNE Awards

From 28 to 30 June this year, the global civil nuclear energy community will gather at the World Nuclear Exhibition at Le Bourget for three industry-focused days with B2B meetings, panel discussions and exhibitor workshops, plus a tie-in programme of professional events and post- show site visits.

This eagerly awaited second edition bringing together numerous international players will be a highlight in the industry calendar. With four months to go, 80% of the stand space is booked and we have almost reached our goal of a 50% increase on 2014, with over 30% new exhibitors – both French and international – and 15 international group stands.

 WNE, a showcase for international excellence 

The WNE Awards

“Progress is at the forefront of the nuclear industry’s concerns and we’re forging ahead, innovating all the time. That’s one reason we’re turning the spotlight on industrial excellence by rewarding the most important advances presented at the show. The Awards Ceremony is a new feature of the 2016 event”, comments Gérard Kottmann, President of WNE.

The WNE Awards ceremony, opening the show on the first evening – Tuesday 28 June – will single out innovative projects in four key areas:

• Innovation in terms of product, process, marketing and organization. 
• Nuclear safety defined as the combined activities that make it possible to guarantee there will be no harmful effects on people or on the environment. 
• Knowledge management as a multidisciplinary managerial policy, making it possible to identify, analyse, efficiently handle, share and preserve the knowledge of an organization’s members – both the knowledge built up by the business itself (marketing, research and development) and that acquired from external sources (business intelligence).
• Operational excellence as a systematic and methodical approach to maximize safety and productivity, product quality and cost-savings, as well as overall performance.

The 4 juries made up of distinguished international experts will be chaired by Bernard Bigot, Director-General of ITER (Innovation jury), William D. Magwood, Director-General of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) (Nuclear safety jury), David Drury, Technical Head of Management of Human Resources at the IAEA (Knowledge management jury), and Jacques Regaldo, Chairman of WANO (operational excellence jury).

The Side Awards

Tying in with the show, 4 side awards will turn the spotlight on innovation: 

• WiN Award: organized by Women in Nuclear Global – a non-profit association of women working in various fields of nuclear energy whose aim is to promote understanding of nuclear science and technology and awareness of the benefits of nuclear energy and its applications to women and the younger generation. During the association’s annual conference, the WiN Award will be given to a woman specializing in the field of nuclear energy on Wednesday 29 June at midday.

www.win-global.org

• Fem'Energia Award: Since 2009 EDF, in partnership with WiN France, WiN Europe and the EDF Foundation has awarded the Fem’Energia prize to encourage and financially support women students and professionals passionate about the nuclear sector. The fem’Energia Prize will be awarded on Thursday 30 June at 12.30.

www.win-france.org

• Spark! Contest, sponsored by Jean-Bernard Lévy, CEO of EDF, invites current students and graduates of French and British universities under the age of 28 to produce innovative thinking on an energy-related topic. This prize will be awarded on the last day, Thursday 30 June at midday.

www.thesparkcontest.org/the-spark-contest.html

• The Innovatome competition, open to students in all fields, this initiative of the Jeune Génération group of the French nuclear energy association, the Société Française d’Energie Nucléaire (SFEN JG), consists of highlighting innovations in three categories linked to societal development: digital, environmental transition and health/safety/wellbeing. The Innovatome prize will be awarded on Thursday 30 June at midday.

www.innovatome.org